Kinetics of growth of conductive filament in AsTeGe glasses

Memory (lock-on) phenomena observed in semiconducting glasses of the AsTeGe system have been investigated by electrical, calorimetrical and X-ray methods. Some differences between the memory process observed in high-As glasses and that in low-As glasses have been shown, which include both the waiting time for the process and the growth behaviour of the conductive filament formed between the electrodes. A strong correlation between the waiting time and the crystallization rate has also been indicated for their dependences on both the composition of the glass and the temperature. Finally, the kinetics of growth of the conductive filament during the memory process has been discussed using a simplified model, based on the ionic behaviour of the constituent elements in switch-on plasma, which explains well the polarity dependence of the filament growth.